Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha Platform for Islamic financing pass US$100 billion mark

• Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha platform is a partnership between Emirates Islamic and Nasdaq Dubai

• Growth supports Dubai’s expansion as global capital of Islamic economy

• Success of platform set up with Emirates Islamic is based on speed and efficiency

Transactions on the Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha Platform for Islamic financing have exceeded a total of US$100 billion. Established jointly by Nasdaq Dubai and Emirates Islamic, the platform meets needs ranging from funding for corporate growth and expansion to personal finance for retail customers. Transactions so far in 2018 have reached US$28.8 billion, up 23% from the same period in 2017.

Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, Chairman of Emirates Islamic, Vice Chairman and MD of Emirates NBD said: “We are delighted to be able to announce the US$100 billion murabahah milestone during Islamic Economy Week, during which Dubai is celebrating many achievements in shari’ah-compliant finance and hosting discussions on how to further develop the sector. The platform is set to attract further regional and international entities to make use of its services on behalf of a growing range of businesses and individuals. “

The growth of the Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha platform supports the expansion of Dubai as the global capital of the Islamic economy under the initiative of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, VP and PM of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Hamed Ali, Chief Executive of Nasdaq Dubai said: “Customers of shari’ah-compliant and conventional financial institutions benefit from the Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha Platform’s speed and efficiency, as well as its transparency and the fixed cost of transactions. We will further expand the user base of banks to support the development of Dubai as the capital of the Islamic economy.”

Salah Mohammed Amin, CEO, Emirates Islamic said: “By combining international capital markets expertise with the standards of shari’ah, our Murabaha platform gives financial institutions and their customers the confidence that all aspects of their Islamic financing needs are met. We are working with Nasdaq Dubai to expand the Murabaha platform and further enhance its efficiency.”

National Bank of Fujairah is the first conventional bank to join Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha Platform

Source: Nasdaq Dubai. NBF is the first conventional bank to join Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha Platform.

National Bank of Fujairah (NBF) is the first conventional bank to join Nasdaq Dubai’s Islamic financing murabahah platform, which offers unique advantages to financial institutions and clients seeking shari’ah-compliant solutions and trading opportunities.The bank rolled out its shari’ah-compliant NBF Islamic in 2014 and has recently expanded its activities to include more shari’ah-compliant services.

The bank’s strategic priorities focus on developing NBF Islamic into a full-fledged proposition encompassing a comprehensive range of solutions for both retail and corporate banking segments. The Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha Platform will play a key role for NBF in facilitating Islamic financing transactions in an efficient and streamlined manner.

Vince Cook, CEO, NBF, said:  “We are very excited about joining the Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha Platform; the move underlines our commitment to offering reliable and efficient Islamic finance services to our clients. The innovative platform complements our existing offerings as we seek to fulfil our clients’ growing needs in this space. It enables our clients to conduct transactions quickly and efficiently at a fixed cost and in a transparent manner – all within an environment that provides the certainty of shari’ah compliance.”

Hamed Ali, Chief Executive of Nasdaq Dubai, said:  “As a prominent UAE financial institution dedicated to supporting businesses and individuals, National Bank of Fujairah is an important addition to our Murabaha platform.  Our collaboration reflects the increasing participation of conventional financial institutions in the field of Islamic finance and as the market grows, Nasdaq Dubai will attract more conventional as well as Islamic financial institutions to participate on it, both regionally and internationally.”

The Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha Platform can provide significant cost savings and a reduction in processing time for its participants, and is playing a growing role in Dubai’s expansion as the global capital of the Islamic economy.

Since its launch in 2014, over US$76 billion worth of transactions have been executed through the platform. Transactions valued at US$26 billion have taken place so far in 2017, up 18% from US$22.1 billion in the same period last year.

RAM Ratings maintains AAA ratings for Suria KLCC’s Sukuk Murabahah Programme

RAM Ratings has reaffirmed the AAA/Stable/P1 ratings of Suria KLCC’s Sukuk Murabahah Programme of up to RM600 million. Suria KLCC is the owner and manager of the six-storey Suria KLCC Mall (the Mall), located within the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) development in Malaysia.

RAM Ratings said the decision was based on the company’s resilient earnings and strong financial metrics, underpinned by Suria KLCC Mall’s superior asset quality as well as the company’s lowly geared balance sheet and robust debt-protection measures, despite a generally weak retail industry. 

As at end-July 2017, the mall maintained a relatively high occupancy rate of 96%, albeit lower than the 98% of 2015 in its ongoing tenant-remixing exercise. RAM Ratings believes that the mall’s occupancy level should return to its historical levels once the exercise concludes in 2018. 

RAM Ratings also pointed out that around half of the leases expiring in 2017 have been renewed at 7% rental reversions (editor's note: a change in the amount of rent to be paid). "We believe the mall will face minimal difficulty in securing lease renewals and procuring new tenants for its remaining vacant space," the consultancy said.

Meethaq launches Ramadhan vehicle finance offer

Meethaq, the pioneer of Islamic banking in Oman from Bank Muscat, has launched a vehicle finance promotion coinciding with Ramadhan. The Meethaq Ramadhan auto finance campaign is available at a 5% annual profit rate inclusive of life takaful during the full finance period. The limited period offer is valid till 31 July 2016.

The shari’ah-compliant Meethaq auto finance programme is based on the concept of murabahah, under which the cost of the vehicle and the profit is disclosed to the buyer. Meethaq purchases the vehicle on customer request, and sells it to them at a cost plus agreed profit.

The exclusive benefits of Meethaq auto finance include financing of up to 80% of the value of the vehicle, repayment tenure up to eight years and free life takaful coverage during the finance period. Financing is also available for purchasing used vehicles.

The bank does not charge any processing fee and offers competitive pricing. With minimal documentation and fast processing, Meethaq car finance is available for citizens and residents at all Meethaq branches.

Eleven Meethaq branches will be open with extended working hours, from 8.30pm to 11.30pm, during Ramadhan: Wattayah, Al Khoud, Barka, Saham, Sohar, Sur, Salalah, Buraimi, Ibri, Ibra and Nizwa.

Meethaq offers a full suite of Islamic banking products and services, including savings account, current account, home finance, auto finance, credit card, mobile banking and Internet banking. Meethaq has 18 branches across the Sultanate of Oman and plans to expand the network as well as launch new products and services to complement the Islamic banking experience.

KFH Bahrain launches Wealth Management Department

KFH-Bahrain’s Wealth Management Department has been officially launched. 

Abdul Razak Jawahery, Executive Manager at KFH-Bahrain; Head of Wealth Management commented, “Upon the successful soft launch of the Wealth Management department, we were able to evaluate and identify a good appetite towards our products and offerings which enabled us to accelerate our strategies for those clients who were sitting on significant capital value within their own business models.”

Jawahery explained that the department can invest in large institutional strategies. "Our clients benefit from various depositor accounts having a number of privileges and features from international murabahah and mudarabah. As their personalised investment command centre, we provide a number of investment products in both discretionary and non-discretionary methods for equities and sukuk. For investments in real estate there are a number of opportunities in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the UK to select from, and, as part of our expansion plans, the department is developing key strategies to launch commodities and real estate opportunities in other geographic areas.”

Interested?

The Wealth Management Department at KFH-Bahrain offers a range of Islamic wealth management products and services. Contact the team at 77 000 500 in Bahrain.

Bank Nizwa offers bespoke shari'ah-compliant home financing for Al Mouj Muscat

Source: Bank Nizwa.

Al Mouj Muscat has partnered with Bank Nizwa to bring shari'ah-compliant home financing services to the destination for the first time. Under the agreement, prospective homeowners will have access to a full range of the Bank's financing solutions and competitive financing rates when purchasing property at Al Mouj Muscat.

Nasser Al Sheibani, CFO and Acting CEO at Al Mouj Muscat, said, "Underpinned by strong ethical principles, Islamic banking products are growing in popularity and I am sure there will be strong demand for the bespoke solutions Bank Nizwa has created to facilitate the purchase of residences on our waterfront community."

Dr Jamil El Jaroudi, CEO of Bank Nizwa said, "We are continuously looking to enhance our role as the leader of Islamic finance in Oman. Therefore, we are providing individuals looking to experience world class living in Al Mouj Muscat with a seamless and effective portfolio of home financing solutions catering to their various requirements and choices of real estate properties in one of the Sultanate's finest destinations."

The Al Mouj Muscat apartments, townhouses and villas are already home to more than 4,000 people of 69 different nationalities. The leisure and lifestyle destination is home to the 400-berth Almouj Marina, Almouj Golf, and commercial, social and entertainment hub The Walk. In 2016, Al Mouj Muscat will open the first of four planned luxury hotels. Further residential precincts, lifestyle assets and tourism experiences are under development and under construction.

Bank Nizwa's home financing products and services have gained a reputation for providing customers with competitive rates, transparent pricing, quick processing and approval. Designed to best suit the needs of prospective homeowners, the Bank's property solutions are based on the Islamic finance concepts of ijarah, murabahah, and forward ijarah.

IFSB Annual Summit to discuss prudential and supervisory infrastructure for Islamic finance

The 12th Annual Summit of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) will be held on 20 and 21 May 2015, in the commercial capital of Kazakhstan, Almaty. The Summit is aimed at harnessing the latest developments and innovation in regulation, prudential standards, current market practices and future challenges to keep stakeholders informed about the global Islamic financial services market; to provide a platform for dialogue with peers; and to give delegates a voice in contributing to the future direction of the industry.

According to the organisers, the Islamic finance landscape is populated by sovereign sukuk issuances by non-traditional markets such as the UK and Hong Kong; reforms underway in both Asia and the Middle East to integrate Islamic finance into governmental budgets; and increased interest from international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. 

Developments such as new IFSB standards on stress testing, liquidity management, capital adequacy are occurring alongside strong private sector activity, the organisers note, especially on the sukuk front: 

• The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector funding arm of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group has won mandates from Jordan, the Ivory Coast and Senegal to assist them in issuing sukuk. 
• Dubai’s Noor Bank recently debuted a US$500 million sukuk wakālah. 
• Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank inaugurated a RM300 million sukuk murābahah in the Malaysian market. 
• The syndicated sukuk murābahah market helped AlBaraka Turk Participation Bank raise US$268 million.
• The first sharī`ah-compliant insurance product was launched through Lloyd’s of London by XL Group and Cobalt Underwriting.
• The Central Bank of Bahrain launched a new wakālah liquidity management instrument.

The transformational impact of the Islamic finance industry can only be truly enhanced if the requisite prudential and supervisory infrastructure is in place. As such, issues relating to Core Principles for Islamic Finance: Integrating with the Global Regulatory Framework, the Summit theme, require discussion. Discussions at the 12th IFSB Summit in Almaty with focus on the new regulatory developments, policy and market trends in the global Islamic financial services industry, concluding with a panel on The New Silk Road: The Importance of Regulatory Cooperation for Cross-Border Integration.

Need background? Read the Suroor Asia blog posts:

IFSB introduces core principles for Islamic finance
IFSB launches indicators for soundness and growth of Islamic finance banking systems 
ADB and IFSB launch book on Islamic finance for Asia

Aafaq - Islamic Finance deploys NASDAQ Dubai Murabaha Platform

Aafaq – Islamic Finance, a UAE-based shari'ah-compliant financial institution, completed its first transaction on the NASDAQ Dubai Murabaha Platform in early November. Clients of Aafaq – Islamic Finance and other companies can use the NASDAQ Dubai Murabaha Platform to execute streamlined transactions within minutes. 

Officially launched in April 2014, the platform has completed a total of more than AED21 billion of transactions. It was set up by NASDAQ Dubai jointly with Emirates Islamic and is playing a key role in Dubai’s growth as the capital of the Islamic economy globally.

His Excellency Essa Kazim, Chairman of Dubai Financial Market and Secretary General of Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC), said: “The expansion of the NASDAQ Dubai Murabaha Platform underlines the continuing success of the initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to develop Dubai as the global Capital of Islamic Economy, as overseen by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai. By effectively serving the clients of Aafaq – Islamic Finance and other companies, the platform will provide growing support for the strengthening of the Islamic finance sector in the UAE.”

Sheikh Faisal Saoud Bin Khalid Alqassimi, Managing Director of Aafaq – Islamic Finance, said: “The NASDAQ Dubai Murabaha platform is a very attractive alternative to many other Islamic financing solutions, which can be subject to unexpected price movements, spreads and delays as well as poor liquidity. We are making use of the platform to offer our clients solutions for a variety of purposes, from personal finance to funds for company expansion.”

The platform makes use of shari'ah-compliant certificates that have been developed for the underlying assets of the financing transactions. Islamic banks, Islamic windows of conventional banks, and Islamic finance companies and their clients can make use of the platform through trading certificates.

Abdul Wahed Al Fahim, Chairman of NASDAQ Dubai, said: “NASDAQ Dubai will build on the growing success of the platform to attract more financial institutions to join it from the UAE and beyond, so that their clients can also benefit from its many advantages. We are committed to further enhancing our Islamic financing infrastructure with the support of all market participants.”

Hamed Ali, Chief Executive of NASDAQ Dubai, said: “The NASDAQ Dubai Murabaha Platform meets the specific requirements of shari’ah-compliant financing within a framework of international capital markets best practice. As a sophisticated and secure financing channel, it is set to cater to an increasing number of customers all over the world.”

Abdulla Al Awar, Chief Executive of DIEDC, said: “Aafaq – Islamic Finance’s decision to join the platform is another positive example of Islamic financial institutions in the UAE taking far-seeing and proactive steps to enhance the services that they offer to clients. This process is rapidly building critical mass in the Islamic financial sector in both quality and quantity.”

Read about the first bank to transact on the NASDAQ Dubai Murabaha Platform here.
Read about aafaq's partnership with MENACORP here.

Islamic finance ideal for alleviating poverty

Islamic finance is well-suited for addressing poverty, whether it is used by Muslims or non-Muslims, says the organisers of the 4th Global Islamic Microfinance Forum (GIMF), which kicks off on 1 November in Dubai at the Dusit Thani Hotel.

Muhammad Zubair Mughal, Chief Executive Officer, AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE) quoted research which has found that Islamic microfinance has a greater impact on poverty alleviation than general microfinance. Firstly, its focus on investing on assets can boost income levels, and opportunities for business, health and education. Secondly, it is available to the poor.

He further said that murabahah, musharakah, mudarbah, and ijarah are some of the options available, and micro takaful helps to keep those emerging from poverty from backsliding.

The forum runs from 1 to 4 November, 2014 and is jointly organised by AlHuda CIBE and Akhuwat. It is supported by the IRTI - Islamic Development Bank, Azerbaijan Microfinance Association, Association of Microfinance of Tajikistan, Indonesia Microfinance Association, Centre of Microfinance Nepal, Metropolitan Training Academy Turkey, Awqaf South Africa, and KFDWB among others.